 |
January 25, 2006
TRUCK versus PIX DIRECTORY |
 |
BEFORE the TRUCK, above – AFTER the TRUCK, below!
THE TRUCK vs DECK STORY:
(SCROLL DOWN to “HERE ARE THE PIX PAGES” if you’ve already read THE STORY.)
STEVE (myne Baby-Bro) had a few days-off from “taking meetings” to determine what his next business venture would be. So, he decided to do a SURPRIZE ROAD TRIP, and drove from HOUSTON to LINCOLN for a visit!
He arrived here just after midnight, on January 25th.
We all chatted for a bit (Ray & Carol, Steve & Chas). About forty minutes later, everyone was ready for bed. I went back down to my basement bedroom and got into bed to read one last chapter of a book before going to sleep. My curtains were open and the Habitat Twinkle Light Tree was shining in through the window that was just a couple feet from my FACE.
Suddenly, I saw a very BRIGHT flash of light in the window, immediately followed by everything outside going PITCH-BLACK, while a tremendously LOUD EXPLOSION rumbled ON and ON and ON for several seconds (a very rapid SERIES of “explosions”)! When the explosions stopped, I couldn’t see a THING outside my windows!
[Oh, SurpriZe! My first thought was that someone had BOMBED us!
HEY! Considering the “Expert Witness” work I do, such an occurrence is NOT
outside the realm of possibility. After all, the people I testify against
are most often Firefighters and Medics and Cops – oh MY!]
ANYWAY … It took me only a SECOND to see that all three of my Katz were SAFE in the bedroom – NOT outside in the Habitat! So, I grabbed my portable phone and raced upstairs, arriving to follow Steve out the front door. After rounding the side of the A-frame, Steve yelled back at me, “Call the police!”
Funny – I was already punching-in “9-1-1” when he yelled that.
Moments before, this kid had been driving East-bound down Our Street from the West of our house. But, he didn’t manage to navigate the CURVE where another street intersects with ours! Instead, he drove up and over Our Street’s North Curb and drove through TWO yards, MOWING-DOWN two mail boxes (narrowly missing a STREET LIGHT POST) in the process. Then he drove back ACROSS Our Street, drove up and over the South Curb, and drove ONTO OUR PROPERTY!
He drove between the two largest trees in our front yard. (The huge Maple tree just South of our mail box and the gigantic Pine tree just North of our front door – EITHER of which would have STOPPED him had he HIT IT!) …
Then, he MOWED-DOWN a slender-trunked, 25-to-30-foot-tall pine tree … and a “Mock Orange” bush-like-tree … before he HIT OUR DECK at it’s North-West corner. The deck deflected his truck along the front of the house, completely destroying the deck, taking PORTIONS of the deck railing WITH IT as his truck drove THROUGH the KAT HABITAT!
Once through the Habitat (after MOWING-DOWN the 6-foot-tall Habitat LADDER and the 7-foot-tall Habitat Twinkle Light PINE TREE), he hit the side of a HUGE Japanese Pagoda Tree’s trunk just at the EAST EDGE of our property.
This finally STOPPED his FORWARD (East-bound) movement, and BOUNCED his truck SOUTH from the Japanese Pagoda Tree, so that his truck finally came to rest with its RIGHT REAR WHEEL WELL IMMEDIATELY OUTSIDE THE WINDOW THAT MY FACE HAD BEEN 3 FEET AWAY FROM at the time!!!
Once it stopped moving, the right side of his truck was about 1 inch away from the main structure of the East A-Frame slope. The mangled front end of his truck was IN OUR NEIGHBOR’S YARD, with portions of the Habitat AND the DECK in front of THAT (waaaay into our neighbor’s yard)!
The kid was wearing his safety belt. (Really! He didn’t bend the steering wheel with his chest. And, his head didn’t “star” the windshield or the window glass of his truck.) So, this “clean-cut” (short-haired & shaved), slender-build/average-height WHITE KID was ENTIRELY UNINJURED! In fact, he got OUT of the truck on his own, and was climbing over DECK DEBRIS when I finally got to him and stopped him from moving around.
HOW DRUNK WAS HE?
His breath alcohol test result: 1.88
The legal limit for driving: 0.08!
Can we say “More than TWICE the legal limit?”
I think we can!!!
The DECK was a TOTAL LOSS.
Thankfully, the guy who built it (to replace the original one when it began rotting out) was available and HAPPY to build us another one. Roger German is one of Ray’s Men’s Glee Club students from way back when, and he runs a carpentry and building BUSINESS. (Landmark Construction Inc.) Besides that, Roger is simply a wonderful, wonderful person!
The KAT HABITAT was a TOTAL LOSS.
But, Roger was willing to rebuild that, TOO!
Even though he’d never before HEARD of such a thing (Oh, SurpriZe … LOL).
The MOSS ROCK CHIMNEY suffered only MINOR DAMAGE.
Roger has a guy who does masonry, and can repair it.
And, THANKFULLY, the STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY of the HOUSE was NOT damaged!
FIVE TREES were TOAST (Ripped Away)!
TWO OTHER TREES were damaged enough that they had to be “REMOVED.”
And, the LAWN will likely have to be “repaired” after all the reconstruction is completed.
The drunk kid’s auto insurance company (Farmer’s Mutual) immediately began making noises as though they would try to snivel out of having to pay to replace everything. But, if they TRY that, OUR insurance company (State Farm) will pay for everything, and then go after Farmer’s. So, Farmer’s WILL eventually be forced to foot the ENTIRE bill.
Ready for the TWILIGHT ZONE BIT?!?!:
JODI (Steve’s wife) – for the first time EVAH – had asked Steve NOT to go on a trip … THIS trip! Why? Because, for two nights in a row before Steve left to drive to Lincoln, Jodi had suffered the SAME NIGHTMARE. All she can remember about this recurring dream is that, “There was a BIG CRASH, and you [Steve] were in it!”
Clearly, Jodi had experienced a DREAM-PREMONITION of the “BIG CRASH” that took out our Deck & Habitat. Thankfully, Steve wasn’t “IN” the crash. He was just HERE for it!
HOWEVER! If the weather had been only slightly WARMER,
Steve and my PARENTS would have been ON THE DECK when this guy HIT IT!!!
DO-do-do-do … DO-do-do-do!!! DO-do-do-do … DO-do-do-do!!!
HERE ARE THE PIX PAGES!
January 25 NIGHTTIME PIX with TRUCK STILL THERE
January 25 FIRST DAYLIGHT PIX
January 25 MORE DAYLIGHT PIX
January 25 HABITAT BITZ
January 26 was spent fielding various contractors and INSURANCE TYPES.
January 27: DEBRIS GONE & TEMPORARY HABITAT UP!
January 27: Enjoying The TEMPORARY COCKTAIL “DECK” – LOL!
February 23 – March 9: New Deck Building Pix
MARCH 2006: THE DECK Is FINISHED!
MAY: The DAMAGE to RAY’s 1967 MASONRY is REPAIRED
New Habitat Construction Begins in MAY
End o’ MAY: The Outdoor GYM & TALL Habitat Section is UP
JUNE: ALL CONSTRUCTION IS DONE!
OCT 2006, The TREES are finally INSTALLED!
The entire collection o’
I saw NO point in taking pix o’ that stuff. LOL!
BLESS YOU, ROGER and BLESS YOU, STEVE!
These pix ain’t that “interesting.” But, they’re posted here for “documentation” purposes.
Blah … blah … yada … yada.
Here are pix o’ the FINISHED HABITAT. (BLESS YOU, ROGER!)
ALL “restoration” is completed … apart from TREES that can’t be replaced until FALL
The FINAL EXPENSE TALLY IS DONE (and posted here).
Farmer’s Mutual Insurance Company HAS attempted to WEASEL-OUT
of paying for the entire expense of the restoration. (Oh, surpriZe!)
But, STATE FARM is gonna GET ‘EM!!!
Here are Pix of “Sammy” and “Petey” and “Vicatoria”!
As well as the LAST NOTES about the INSURANCE PAYMENTS.
THAT’S IT!!!
“Truck-vs-Deck/Habitat”
pix have been posted.
I hope you’ve ENJOYED this “saga” and its PIX!
BSK, CHAS
(the one with other Main-Directory Page Links)
OR contributions to the photo gallery!
please Email WebMistress Chas!
c-d-miller@neb.rr.com
That’s: c-d-miller@neb.rr.com –
those are hyphens/dashes (-) between the “c” and “d” and “miller”
